Union President Becky Palmer said she had not heard from the county about reopening negotiations to end the strike over wages.

"We held pretty strong with 80 to 90 people," Palmer said of those who are supporting the strike.

Some caseworkers represented by the union had chosen to go to work, she said. The independent union represents about 127 employees, most of them caseworkers.

Employees walked with picket signs along North Fair Avenue in front of children services beginning about 7:45 a.m., while managers and temporary workers kept the agency going.

The picketers wore blue shirts printed with a Winston Churchill quote: "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

Butler County caseworkers have gone without raises for three years. Caseworkers with less experience make close to $33,000 a year, while the most experienced top out at about $59,000 a year, county records show. Those who have master's degrees make a little more per hour. By comparison, a receptionist at the agency makes $32,500.

Caseworker Tim Thilberg, 25, has been on the job for 14 months after graduating from Miami University. He was on the picket line Monday.

Thilberg said he also works a second job waiting tables at a restaurant and sells plasma to support himself while he pays off student loans. Yet going without his paychecks while on strike is worth it.

"It's not even about money, It's about standing up for the county investing in good workers to provide services for our families," he said.

Vickie Bennett walked the picket line to support her daughter, who has worked at the agency for about a year.

She said the county should provide more information about how it spends the levy money it receives from taxpayers each year.

"Where is the financial responsibility there if they can't afford to pay the front line? How does that money get broke down? Where does it go?" Bennett asked.

The 5-year, 2-mill levy generates about $16 million annually of the agency's $23 million annual budget to provide programs and services to abused, neglected and dependent children. The rest of the funding comes from state and federal governments.

Contract negotiations broke down Sunday in a last-ditch effort using a federal mediator. Neither side would budge on their positions, officials said.

County officials are pushing for performance pay, saying the children services agency faces a $2.2 million shortfall by the end of the year and won't be able to make payroll in early 2016. The the union wants to hold on to step increases and percentage raises.

County Administrator Charles Young said the lump sum payment system with a goal toward performance pay already has been accepted by 10 unions representing county employees. The union's demands would cost the county $1.3 million more in wages for a three-year contract, he said.

The county had offered annual lump sums payments of between $500 and $550 for the next three years with the hope of eventually moving toward performance pay. The union had accepted a fact finder's recommendation in June that workers receive automatic step increases and cost of living raises of 1.5 percent for the first year, with 1.75 percent and 2 percent each of the following two years.

Felicia Bernardini, the fact finder, reported that pay ranges for Butler County caseworkers were "substantially below average" compared with children services workforces in Ohio counties with similar demographics.

Monday's strike is a first for Butler County Children Services, although strikes aren't new to children services agencies in the state.

Franklin County children services workers went on strike over health benefits for three-weeks in 2005. Agency spokeswoman Deborrha Armstrong said the most significant impact was that fewer children in the system were visited face-to-face. Those visits were prioritized by the child's age and potential risk involved, she said.

Last year, 260 children services workers in Montgomery County filed a notice to strike but a contract was reached a few days before the scheduled walkout.

Young said the strike would not put Butler County's 365 foster children at risk. The only change children might notice, he said, is that they would be visited by a different caseworker.